Marvin Harris’ Good to Eat: Riddles of Food and Culture details the origins of mysterious or otherwise counterintuitive food phenomena around the globe. Harris, a renowned anthropologist, convincingly explains how environmental, geographic, and social factors helped shape specific food patterns and culture, and he attempts to prove that food habits exist because of a cost benefit analysis that has been conducted (somewhat unwittingly) throughout the course of human history.
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This is an image of the author of the book and famous anthropologist, Marvin Harris.
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There's a word for this. It's called Eurocentrism which means looking at the world through a European lens.
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Harris supports his specific examples with exceptional evidence and wit. However, Harris often struggles with the breadth of his subject matter. He employs a European-centric lens to narrow his scope but never fully acknowledges this bias. He attempts to discuss the entire world, but this becomes noticably lopsided, as he explains all of it in the context of European culture. This makes the book more accessible to many of its readers but limits the possible global awareness and knowledge the book provides.
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Despite the book's biases (which are innately intertwined with his thesis, and thus, somewhat inevitable), the notions he presents are fascinating. The concepts he suggests are complicated and unique, especially at the time he was writing them. Now, more similar writing addresses these topics, but at the time, Harris was the only one providing agricultural explanations for cultural phenomena. He often dissented from well-established geographic thought and would cite major geographers who disagreed, before effectively supporting his claim with an array of scientific studies and logical reasoning. His explanations allow a greater understanding of not just food habits, but also geographic importance in shaping lifestyles.
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Here are some Marvin Harris quotes that you give a feel for his opinions and writing style:
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During the Columbia student riots of 1968, Harris was one of the only teachers who sided with the students when police beat them.
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In addition to captivating ideas, Harris also has a distinct and quite entertaining writing style. He sporadically includes ancectodes with scientific evidence and approaches his topics with an in-depth knowledge and analysis as well as a sense of humor. Ocasionally, the tangetially related examples are overly detailed, but overall, Harris breaks down the somewhat complicated subject matter into comprehensible ideas that are accented with exceptional literary fluency and wit.
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Comprehensibility
Harris turns complicated information into a very comprehensible format by breaking down complex scientific evidence and thoroughly explaining the logic behind his claims.
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Information
Harris' biases, while they might have been products of his time, affect the information provided. While this book is extremely detailed and educational, some of the ideas he explains are skewed and might not be considered fully accurate or acceptable by modern standards. Therefore, one star is removed from an otherwise very informative book.
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Entertainment
Harris varies his sources (scientific, anecdotal, and geographic) to prove his points. He also encorporates humor and a playful tone of writing which holds the attention of his readers exceptionally well.
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